Barley water and spooky horse - update

Birker2020

Birker2020

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My horses spooky behaviour has gradually increased since Xmas to the point I dreaded riding him. This escalation of spooky behaviour coincided with him getting injured in a competition and his workload going from light to medium work to practically non existent – he was walking straight lines for 20 mins a day and was only going out onto a sandpit for up to two hours a day. In the end I got the physio out to investigate his atlas (one of the symptoms of an atlas being out of alignment is spooky behaviour) and she checked his back also. His back was found to be a little sore, but nothing of any significance and this was remedied by a session of physio and a better saddlecloth. His saddle was also checked by the saddler and given the all clear. I cut down on his hay and his feed (although he was hardly eating anything) and I inceased his feed balancer as I had cut it down and I had then read that decreasing this could cause such behaviour.

I got the vet out straight after and he was given a thorough examination, his eyes were checked, his teeth were rasped and the site of his injury was checked and nothing was found that could be contributing to the spooky behaviour, no sharp teeth, no eye problems and I was told his leg was coming on really well in terms of recovery, another six weeks and I can start canter work. In the end I asked the vet if I could put him on a bute trial as people on the forum suggested the reason he was spooking was due to being in pain although I didn’t think this was the case, - I have had this horse for a number of years and know him inside out. A friend had also ridden him and thought he was just ‘full of beans’ this was my impression also.

I decided to put him on the two week bute trial of two bute a day, and as I had thought, this made no difference at all he was just as spooky.

Then suddenly over the last five days his behaviour has improved so much. Hacking out three times this week he has hardly spooked at anything, incredible considering what he was like the week before and in the weeks previous to that. Last night I was able to ride him in the school for twenty minutes without him spooking once, and we did our first trot poles for three months without any spooking at all. He was a superstar and didn’t put a foot wrong, I was so pleased with him I couldn't stop patting him.

The only thing that is different is that the Y.O has stopped giving the horses boiled barley now that the hunting season has finished and the liveries are no longer getting the barley water which has run off from the boiled barley. Has anyone else found either barley or boiled barley water has made their horse behave in such a way??
 
wench said:
Didn't you post about this before in regards to barley water?
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HI Wench

Yes but I had no joy so I thought I would try again. As you probably know this forum has that many users, but some don't come on, on a regular basis and of course there are new users joining joining every week. I thought I might have some comments from people that hadn't seen my post first time round.

I know some horses can be very barley intolerant. I would have thought that if this is the case with my horse, the water from the barley would be sufficient to send him over the edge.
 
I hadn't seen this before and OP - absolutely YES! I have a barley intolerant horse. If you feed him barley his behaviour goes straight out of the window. I used a bit sceptical about people who said their horses couldn't eat barley or molasses etc. But having gone through our experiences with super stressy poor do-er ISH there are most definitely such things as barley intolerant horses. I've even experimented with ours a bit (largely to test that I wasn't being a dolt) and as little as one barley ring will produce a significant adverse behaviour change in as little as 30 mins. A&P do a barley & molasses free range. That and linseed rather than barley for weight gain - haven't looked back since.
 
Shay said:
I hadn't seen this before and OP - absolutely YES! I have a barley intolerant horse. If you feed him barley his behaviour goes straight out of the window. I used a bit sceptical about people who said their horses couldn't eat barley or molasses etc. But having gone through our experiences with super stressy poor do-er ISH there are most definitely such things as barley intolerant horses. I've even experimented with ours a bit (largely to test that I wasn't being a dolt) and as little as one barley ring will produce a significant adverse behaviour change in as little as 30 mins. A&P do a barley & molasses free range. That and linseed rather than barley for weight gain - haven't looked back since.
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Thank you Shay. I definetly think there is a link between the barley water and his behaviour. I can't understand why he is so calm this last week and a half and it only corresponds with them being off the barley water. Of course the lack of turnout and decrease in riding has also had an effect I am sure.

I will have a look at the Allen & Page range like you suggest, he is only on a simple pasture mix at the moment and has it added to his low cal pony nuts and hi-fi lite, so he can have his supplements.
 
I used to loan a horse who was a complete nutter with regards to Barley - to the point of being dangerous and yes I think the barley water probably is the culprit in your case.
 
Well Barley is known for being "heating" and the water off the Barley is probably akin to rocket fuel!

I would never dream of putting my horse on Barley and I would be annoyed if YO was adding stuff to my feeeds whether the horse liked it or not.
 
ester said:
Is it bad that I immediately thought he was getting lemon barley water :D
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So did I, LOL


I would say your assumption about the barley water is right, if its the only thing that is suddenly being omitted from his feed.

Its amazing the stuff we feed our horses without any real idea if they need or can metabolically cope with it.
 
KautoStar1 said:
So did I, LOL


I would say your assumption about the barley water is right, if its the only thing that is suddenly being omitted from his feed.

Its amazing the stuff we feed our horses without any real idea if they need or can metabolically cope with it.
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I know, if it were up to me he wouldn't have it. I think the YO thought I was being a bit dramatic when I said I didn't want him fed it anymore but I did think that the water off the barley would be contributing somehow, an example; if you put two paracetamol in a glass of water the water still contains paracetamol even if the capsules haven't dissolved and are not consumed. Same principle.
 
I think that "pasture mix" is a total marketing misnomer, the D&H one has both cereals and molasses, and a similar profile to competition mix.
In ye olden days there were pony nuts, and racehorse cubes. Everyone bought racehorse cubes for their hunters ........... then went back to oats, broad bran, and Equivite with a linseed mash after hunting. Rock salt in the manger. Timothy / meadow fescue hay in the hay rack.
What most horses need is plenty of fresh air and lots of good forage, with a few minerals. The only cereal I would feed is oats, and that for those who need it, I never would feed barley except for oldies who need fattening.
Nowadays I think non molassed beet , micronised linseed and some non molassed chaff with minerals will do the job.
There is a magnesium deficiency in many parts of the UK, so spooky horses may need this.
I'd think barley water is high in sugars, since sugars are fairly soluble.
 
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I would suspect the barley water, too. I used to have a mare who would spook at the slightest sound and became almost unhandleable if she ate any cereal. She could only be fed speedibeet, alfalfa cobbs and grassnuts. When we changed her diet, her behaviour began to change after 24 hrs and she was like a different horse within a week. When people complain about horses' behaviour, I always advise them to look at the feed first.
 
If you have a horse on livery can you not dictate what goes into it ? I would be furious if a yard owner made nutritional decisions for a horse without consulting the owner.
 
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